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I think it’s disingenuous for an organization of doctors to call for Single Payer. They’re actually just as much a part of the problem as the insurance companies. They have every incentive in the world for a Single Payer system to come into place (they’ll make more money), and no doubt believe they could “capture” it via lobbying, as do Big Pharma, Hospitals and Medical Equipment folks, among others.
Yes, we need Single Payer for the insurance side. We need non-profit health insurance for everyone. But in America, if we leave it at just that, the costs of medicine itself will not go down overall, and may well go up in many cases. As long as medical providers operate under capitalist laws of motion and incentives, those prices will continue to escalate. They, not just the insurance companies, keep raising their prices too on everything from simple 10-minute (almost symbolic) checkups, to surgery, to chemo — with cost pressures also coming from Big Pharma, etc.
The cost of one chemo treatment, for instance, has literally doubled since I started on this journey. From roughly $15,000 to $30,000. And that’s for a single treatment, roughly 4-5 hours in a chair, with a single chemo drip bag and maybe two nurses in attendance (who also look after other patients). I’ve never had an insurance company turn down the chemo, though I have had them say no to a PET scan. Change it to a CT scan, and we’ll cover it, they said.
To make a long story short: We need to make both insurance and delivery of health care a right, not a commodity. Decommidify all of it. Remove it from the capitalist laws of motion. End the profit incentives from both sides of the equation. If we do just the insurance side, we open ourselves up to a gold rush of abuse from medical providers, who will attack the new cash cow with armies of lobbyists and kill it, if they can’t control it.
I don’t think it’s patient care they’re worried about–medicare works fine. Insurance companies routinely turn down claims and patients don’t get procedures done.
They just happen to be trying to protect their own profits.
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You know, Pa, one of the most dis-spiriting discussions I’ve ever had in my life, happened when i went to a dinner with a friend of mine, about seven years ago or so. My friend’s brother-in-law was in medical school. And this dinner was a get-together of Med-students. (all wealthy, white, privileged young people) — and somehow we got on the topic of single-payer. Every single med-student at the dinner (about eight or ten) was against single-payer — and several of them flat-out said things like “I did not take out all those loans so i could be poor.” It was all about the money. And they were adamant. And angry at the thought of not making a lot of money as doctors. That was their priority. It was painful to listen to. Not a word about poor people or what is happening to the poor. No understanding of what is happening to non-privileged Americans. Sigh. Ignorant, ignorant privileged med-students.
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“Our patients can’t afford care and don’t have access to the care they need, while the system is ever more wasteful, throwing away money on bureaucratic expenses and absurd prices from the drug companies,”Well, those med students were worried about nothing. Canadian physicians under a single payer system get paid very well. They are not poor by any means. While they may earn less than their American counterparts, Canadian doctors also have fewer costs because of the single payer system.
US DOCTORS CALL FOR UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE: “ABOLISH THE INSURANCE COMPANIES”
THIS ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN THE GUARDIAN
http://www.occupy.com/article/us-doctors-call-universal-healthcare-abolish-insurance-companies
A group of more than 2,000 physicians is calling for the establishment of a universal government-run health system in the US, in a paper in the American Journal of Public Health.
According to the proposal released Thursday, the Affordable Care Act did not go far enough in removing barriers to healthcare access. The physicians’ bold plan calls for implementing a single-payer system similar to Canada’s, called the National Health Program, that would guarantee all residents healthcare.
The new single-payer system would be funded mostly by existing US government funding. The physicians point out that the US government already pays for two-thirds of all healthcare spending in the US, and a single-payer system would cut down on administrative costs, so a transition to a single-payer system would not require significant additional spending.
“Our patients can’t afford care and don’t have access to the care they need, while the system is ever more wasteful, throwing away money on bureaucratic expenses and absurd prices from the drug companies,” said David Himmelstein, a professor in the CUNY School of Public Health at Hunter College and lecturer on medicine at Harvard Medical School.
Himmelstein, one of the authors of the plan, said the proposal is meant as a rallying cry for physicians and other healthcare professionals around the cause of a single-payer model. According to the paper, even with the passage of the Affordable Care Act many patients “face rising co-payments and deductibles that compromise access to care and leave them vulnerable to ruinous medical bills”. Despite the current high healthcare spending levels in the US, healthcare outcomes are worse than in comparable well-funded countries.
“There has been a conviction that we can approach this incrementally and get there in small steps and one of the advantages of having passed the ACA is that modest steps can’t do the job, and in a way make it easier to make arguments that we need more fundamental changes,” said Himmelstein.
Under the proposal, all US residents would be able to see any physician of their choosing in the country and be treated at any hospital. With guaranteed coverage and no co-pays, deductibles and premiums, patients would not have financial barriers to seeking care, which would lead to greater utilization of the system and improved health outcomes, Himmelstein argues.
The additional funds would be made up by modest tax increases in exchange for abolishing insurance premiums, deductibles and co-pays.
“We would have to abolish the insurance companies, there is no way around that,” Himmelstein said. The employees at the private insurance companies would be retrained for other jobs, he explains, and receive job placement assistance. The insurance CEOs, who earn multimillion dollar salaries, would not get comparable job placement, Himmelstein said wryly.
Fees for medication would be negotiated with pharmaceutical companies the same way other countries with single-payer systems already negotiate for lower cost medications. Currently, US drug prices are some of the highest in the world.
While Himmelstein acknowledges that the physicians’ proposal would meet with political and business interest opposition, and he can’t say when such a system would realistically have the political backing needed to be implemented, he is hopeful that as more Americans view a single-payer system favorably, pressure will continue to mount on the government.
Proposing a single-payer system in the US is not new. Vermont previously attempted to implement a single-payer system, which passed the legislature but was shut down by the once supportive governor when cost estimates increased beyond what the state was able to afford.
Coloradans will vote this November on whether to institute a single payer system statewide. One of the leaders of the movement in Colorado is state senator Irene Aguilar, who is also a physician. The Colorado proposal would be financed by a payroll tax increase of 7% for employers and 3% for employees. For the self-employed, that would translate into a 10% tax increase.
But Himmelstein said this type of reform can’t be done state by state. The physicians’ plan depends in part on cost containment through having a single payer with the power to negotiate drug pricing with pharmaceutical companies as well as eliminating many levels of bureaucracy in billing and insurance registration.
The American Medical Association (AMA), which is the largest organization of physicians in the US, has opposed the idea of a single-payer model. When contacted, the AMA pointed to its policy regarding evaluating health reform proposals, which states in part that: “Unfair concentration of market power of payers is detrimental to patients and physicians, if patient freedom of choice or physician ability to select mode of practice is limited or denied. Single-payer systems clearly fall within such a definition and, consequently, should continue to be opposed by the AMA.”
But Himmelstein sees change around the corner. “I think the AMA and its member organizations are slowly starting to come around and I am confident that they will eventually come around.” He points to the passing of resolutions by a few of the state medical associations that make up the AMA membership to study the impact of a single-payer system as indicators of change.
For Himmelstein and the other writers of the editorial, the biggest indicator of change seems to be the talk of a single-payer system in the presidential primaries which has brought attention back to the issue.
“Bernie Sanders showed you can do extraordinarily well campaigning on this issue,” said Himmelstein, who is confident that if enough American people demand a single-payer system, Congress will eventually have no choice but to change their minds and support it.
We spent all of our time in the south, south west and west of Ireland. We were supposed to be there for 2 weeks but left after 10 days because of our dog. We also stayed in BnB’s. Instead of driving the ring of Kerry we did the ring of Beara. The locals recommended it as being less touristy. It was beautiful. Ireland has the prettiest scenery I’ve ever experienced. My favorite memory happened while in Limerick. We watched their hurling team defeat Tipperary. We were in a pub with a bunch of locals. The atmosphere in the pub was every bit as intense as you see in a bar in Pittsburgh when the Steelers are playing. The locals happily answered all my questions about the match and were very patient with my ignorance. They even had my back when a German tourist made a snide remark to me about American football.
Ranking all 32 NFL head coaches, from worst to first
Ranking all 32 NFL head coaches, from worst to first
32. Mike Mularkey, Titans
Yes, I’m dropping Mularkey below the first-year coaches. Mularkey may have a track record as an NFL head coach, but it’s not very good. His teams have won four of the last 25 games he’s coached. In his four seasons running a team, he’s never produced an offense ranking higher than 25th — not very good for an offensive-minded coach. At least the four newbies have hope.
31. Dirk Koetter, Buccaneers
30. Doug Pederson, Eagles
29. Ben McAdoo, Giants
28. Adam Gase, Dolphins
We’re lumping all of the first-year coaches together, because no one really knows how they’ll fare as head coaches. Gase goes to the front of the line because of his successful runs in both Denver and Chicago. Ben McAdoo gets credit for turning the Giants into a West Coast outfit, which has revived Eli Manning’s career. Pederson did a fine job running Andy Reid’s offense in Kansas City, but he has yet to establish his own productive offense away from his mentor. Koetter did an excellent job with Jameis Winston last year, but his stints in Jacksonville and Atlanta did not go so well.
27. Gus Bradley, Jaguars
Bradley’s been on the job for three years and the team hasn’t really shown any progress on the defensive side. Granted, that should change in 2016 after the front office brought in a number of defensive upgrades. Still, Bradley’s scheme hasn’t evolved since coming over from Seattle, which is concerning.
26. Dan Quinn, Falcons
Quinn is in the same boat as Bradley until he proves he can build a good defense with the group of All-pros he had at his disposal in Seattle. He also drops on this list for some poor game management moments during his first season with the Falcons, specifically his blunder in San Francisco.
25. Jim Caldwell, Lions
Caldwell has a Super Bowl appearance on his resume, but really, that was Tony Dungy’s and Peyton Manning’s team. He lasted just one season in Indianapolis after Manning’s neck injury, and hasn’t done much in Detroit to prove he’s a good head coach. The offense — and he’s a former offensive coordinator — wasn’t very good when the Lions made the playoffs in his first season. It did improve in the second-half of 2015 when Jim Bob Cooter took over the play-calling duties. Cooter (stop giggling) and defensive coordinator Teryl Austin, who could be in line for a head job in the near future, are the real stars of this show.
24. Jack Del Rio, Raiders
Del Rio has proven he can build a good defense. He did so in both Jacksonville and Denver. The question is whether he can he build a great one. Del Rio’s defenses tend to play conservatively, with few blitzes and a game plan that doesn’t change much week-to-week. You’re not going to take down top quarterbacks — which you have to do to win in the playoffs — with vanilla defenses.
23. Mike McCoy, Chargers
You can’t coach health, so it’s hard to put the Chargers’ recent struggles all on McCoy. He’s produced consistently productive offenses during his three-year tenure in San Diego. And his offense, which is built around quick timing throws, suits Philip Rivers perfectly. The 2016 season — assuming the Chargers finally stay healthy — should give us a better idea of just how good McCoy really is.
22. Jeff Fisher, Rams
How does this guy still have a job? People complain about Marvin Lewis in Cincinnati, but at least he gets his teams to the playoffs. Fisher hasn’t produced a winning record in seven years. The offense has been dreadful during his run and the defense, which has been loaded with talent, has underachieved.
21. Jason Garrett, Cowboys
We all agree Tony Romo is a very good quarterback, right? Maybe not top-five but definitely in the top-10. So why have the Cowboys made the playoffs only once under Garrett? The teams that consistently make the playoffs usually have two things: A good quarterback and a good coach. Dallas has the first part of that combo down. So what does that say about Garrett?
20. Chuck Pagano, Colts
Judging by the players’ reaction to owner Jim Irsay announcing Pagano’s surprising contract extension, the team clearly likes playing for him. His defenses, though, have been underwhelming, ranking outside the top-20 every season except for 2014. It’s fair to wonder how much of Pagano’s impressive win-loss record (41-23) is based on the brilliance of Andrew Luck.
19. Marvin Lewis, Bengals
One thing you can say about Lewis is he knows how to pick his coordinators. In the last two years, he’s seen three of his play-callers leave for head jobs. And despite all of that coaching talent under him, and all the talent he has on the roster, he has yet to lead the Bengals to a playoff victory.
18. Hue Jackson, Browns
A year from now, Jackson could crack the top-10 on this list. His quarterback-friendly offense should get Robert Griffin III’s career back on track — maybe not 2012 levels, but close. I’ve learned not to doubt Jackson after he turned Andy Dalton into an MVP candidate. Don’t be surprised if the Bengals offense falls off with Jackson leaving for Cleveland.
17. Jay Gruden, Redskins
Say what you want about Gruden’s handling of the RG3 situation, the man knows how coach up an offense. He makes things easy for Kirk Cousins, setting up simple either/or reads that put the ball in his playmakers’ hands in space. Washington led the league in yards after catch in 2015, according to SportingCharts.com.
16. Rex Ryan, Bills
Ryan is known as a brilliant defensive mind, but he’s going to need a bounce back season to retain that title. He hasn’t produced a top-10 unit in three seasons, and he hasn’t led his team to a winning record since 2010.
15. Todd Bowles, Jets
Boasting the most aggressive defensive scheme in the league, Bowles needed only a season to turn the Jets’ declining defense into one of the league’s better groups. And he managed to do so with out any dominant edge-rushers. That’s not much of a surprise after the work he did in Arizona, patching together a banged-up defense and keeping it in the top-half of the league’s statistical rankings.
14. Gary Kubiak, Broncos
He has a Super Bowl ring now, but let’s be serious: Most of the credit belongs to defensive coordinator Wade Phillips and his historically great defense. Kubiak’s offense is usually productive — well, unless the quarterback is a decaying Peyton Manning — but he can get a little too conservative at times.
13. Bill O’Brien, Texans
O’Brien earned his spot on this list after leading the Texans to consecutive winning records despite having Ryan Fitzpatrick, Ryan Mallett, Case Keenum, Brian Hoyer, T.J. Yates and Brandon Weeden making starts at quarterback. Brock Osweiler may not be a franchise passer, but he’s better than anyone O’Brien has had to work with since coming to Houston.
12. John Fox, Bears
Yes, he’s conservative, but Fox always gets the most out of his teams. He took both the Panthers and the Broncos to the Super Bowl, and he’s got the Bears on track to make a run at the playoffs in 2016.
11. Chip Kelly, 49ers
We won’t punish Kelly the Coach for Kelly the General Manager’s decisions. He’s still one of the more innovative offensive coaches in the league and somehow managed to churn out yet another top-15 scoring offense despite all the Eagles’ issues. His 26-21 record is pretty impressive considering who he’s had at the quarterback position.
10. Andy Reid, Chiefs
OK, so maybe Reid still hasn’t figured out how to manage the clock, but you can’t deny his track record as a coach. His teams have missed the playoffs only six times over his 17 seasons as a head coach. And Reid’s offenses have landed in the top-10 in points scored in 10 of those seasons.
9. Mike McCarthy, Packers
Everything we just said about Reid applies to McCarthy. He’s not great at managing a game, but he knows how to get his teams to the playoffs. Last season was the first the Packers did not have a top-10 scoring offense.
8. Ron Rivera, Panthers
The Panthers were patient with Rivera as he went through some growing pains over the first few years of his head coaching career, and he’s repaid the organization. His biggest strength is developing young defensive talent. Despite all of the turnover in the secondary over the last few seasons, the defense is still one of the best units in the league. And Rivera deserves a lot of credit for not trying to turn Cam Newton into more of a traditional quarterback.
7. John Harbaugh, Ravens
Harbaugh deserves a pass for last year’s debacle. The Ravens sent an inordinate number of players to IR. It was only the second time the Ravens missed the playoffs in Harbaugh’s eight years in charge.
6. Mike Tomlin, Steelers
Tomlin might not be as hands-on when it comes the X’s and O’s as some other coaches on this list, but his players always play hard for him. And he’s done a good job handling his assistants. When he was given the job, Tomlin was smart enough to leave Dick LeBeau in charge of the defense instead of installing his own scheme. And the unpopular hire of Todd Haley has turned out to be a brilliant move.
5. Sean Payton, Saints
There’s no offensive coach in the NFL better at creating favorable match-ups than Payton. That’s how the Saints offense remains in the top-half of the league without elite talent at the receiver position. While most other quarterbacks see their production fall off when their top targets go down, Drew Brees just keeps putting up 4,000-yard seasons.
4. Mike Zimmer, Vikings
Zimmer is the most creative defensive play-caller in the league. And more importantly, he knows how to develop young talent. Case in point: It took him only two years to turn Anthony Barr, who was seen as a raw prospect who would take some time to develop, into an All-pro caliber player. The Vikings defense is going to be very good for a very long time.
3. Bruce Arians, Cardinals
Is there a more aggressive coach in the league? Arians isn’t jumping on the dink-and-dunk trend most NFL offenses are now favoring. The Cardinals offense is going to attack defenses downfield and do it relentlessly. And that mindset has carried over to the defense. No team captures the personality of its coach more than Arizona. Arians also produces results. His teams have never won fewer than nine games, and that includes his 12-game stint as the Colts interim coach, when Indianapolis went 9-3.
2. Pete Carroll, Seahawks
No team plays harder than the Seahawks. It doesn’t matter what the score is (see: Seattle’s playoff loss in Carolina last season), Carroll’s teams never seem to give up. The players buy into his “Always Compete” philosophy, so you won’t ever see the team get complacent. His overly-enthusiastic approach wasn’t supposed to work in the NFL, but it’s hard to argue with the results. The Seahawks have made the playoffs five times in Carroll’s six years as head coach.
1. Bill Belichick, Patriots
Belichick is the greatest coach in NFL history. It’s not even debatable at this point. Other coaches have had bigger impacts on the game thanks to innovative schemes. But that’s what separates Belichick from the rest of the pack: There is no Belichick system. His defenses have employed a number of different schemes throughout his reign. What started out as pure 3-4 defense favoring zone coverage behind well designed blitzes has morphed into a 3-4/4-3 hybrid front with the secondary locked in man coverage. Belichick isn’t tied to any one scheme. Schemes grow old and get replaced by the next big thing. The game is constantly evolving, and, somehow, Belichick always seems to be ahead of the evolutionary curve.
Congressional report says NFL waged improper campaign to influence government study
WASHINGTON — At least a half-dozen top NFL health officials waged an improper, behind-the-scenes campaign last year to influence a major U.S. government research study on football and brain disease, congressional investigators have concluded in a new report.
The 91-page report describes how the NFL pressured the National Institutes of Health to strip the $16 million project from a prominent Boston University researcher and tried to redirect the money to members of the league’s committee on brain injuries. The study was to have been funded out of a $30 million “unrestricted gift” the NFL gave the NIH in 2012.
After the NIH rebuffed the NFL’s campaign to remove Robert Stern, an expert in neurodegenerative disease who has criticized the league, the NFL backed out of a signed agreement to pay for the study, the report shows. Taxpayers ended up bearing the cost instead.
The NFL’s actions violated policies that prohibit private donors from interfering in the NIH peer-review process, the report concludes, and were part of a “long-standing pattern of attempts” by the league to shape concussion research for its own purposes.
“In this instance, our investigation has shown that while the NFL had been publicly proclaiming its role as funder and accelerator of important research, it was privately attempting to influence that research,” the report states.
Democratic members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce launched the investigation in December after Outside the Lines reported that the NFL backed out of the seven-year study, which aims to find methods for detecting — in living patients — chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a disease found in dozens of deceased NFL players.
The report, first obtained by Outside the Lines, also shows:
• The co-chairman of the NFL’s committee on brain injuries, Dr. Richard Ellenbogen, was one of the league’s “primary advocates” opposing Stern, even though Ellenbogen had applied for the same grant and stood to benefit personally. Ellenbogen previously denied to Outside the Lines that he tried to influence the NIH, but the report sharply criticizes his actions.
• The NFL was warned that taxpayers would have to bear the cost of the $16 million study and that the NIH would be “unable to fund other meritorious research for several years” if the league backed out. The NFL offered a last-minute $2 million payment after an intermediary suggested a partial contribution would “help dampen criticism.” The NIH turned down the offer.
• Even after an NIH review panel upheld the award to Stern, the NFL sought to funnel the $16 million to another project that would involve members of the league’s brain injury committee. The plan would have allowed the NFL researchers to avoid the NIH’s rigorous peer-review process. NIH Director Francis Collins rejected the idea.
Behind the NFL’s donations for brain research is a funding apparatus that some researchers believe steers research away from potentially uncomfortable truths about football and brain disease.
U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-New Jersey, told Outside the Lines that the NFL’s attempts to influence the NIH threatened to compromise the integrity of the research.
“Once you get anybody who’s heavily involved with the NFL trying to influence what kind of research takes place, you break that chain that guarantees the integrity, and that’s what I think is so crucial here,” Pallone said. “Fortunately, the NIH didn’t take the bait. It shouldn’t be a rigged game. If it is, then people won’t really know whether what we’re finding through this research is accurate.”
The NFL has repeatedly denied that it withheld funding because of objections to Stern, a professor of neurology and neurosurgery and the director of clinical research at Boston University’s CTE Center. But in emails and phone calls documented by congressional investigators, league officials said they believed Stern was biased and his selection marred by a conflict of interest because a grant reviewer had previously appeared on a scientific paper with one of Stern’s colleagues. The NIH ruled that the allegations were unfounded.
Jeff Miller, NFL executive vice president of health and safety, told investigators that the NFL voiced its concerns through appropriate channels and believed it had done nothing out of the ordinary.
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy on Monday said: “The NFL rejects the allegations laid out … There is no dispute that there were concerns raised about both the nature of the study in question and possible conflicts of interest. These concerns were raised for review and consideration through the appropriate channels. … It is deeply disappointing the authors of the Staff Report would make allegations directed at doctors affiliated with the NFL Head, Neck and Spine Committee without ever speaking to them.”
However, Dr. Walter Koroshetz, who directs the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke for the NIH, described the NFL’s campaign as unprecedented, telling investigators he “was aware of no other instance” in which a private donor attempted to intervene in the NIH grant selection process.
“They wanted to look like the good guy, like they were giving money for this research,” said Pallone, the ranking member on the Energy and Commerce Committee. “But as soon as they found out that it might be somebody who they don’t like who’s doing the research, they were reneging on their commitment, essentially.”
According to a five-page research plan provided in the report, the NFL agreed to the objectives of the CTE study in July 2014 and committed $16,325,242 — nearly the entire budget. The document was signed by NFL general counsel Jeff Pash, along with representatives of the NIH and the Foundation for the NIH (FNIH), a non-profit organization. In addition to raising money, the FNIH was created by Congress to help preserve the independence of the NIH, the nation’s largest biomedical institution.
The report indicates the FNIH “failed” in that role, which resulted in the NFL “circumventing appropriate protocols of communication, attempting to influence NIH’s selection of grant recipients and ultimately violating its obligation to provide funding for that grant.” The FNIH had no immediate comment Monday.
The NFL first registered its concerns in spring 2015, after the NIH notified Stern that his group had been selected. As Outside the Lines has previously reported, a competing proposal for the grant was led by Kevin Guskiewicz, a prominent concussion researcher who chairs the NFL’s Subcommittee on Safety Equipment and Playing Rules, and included three other NFL advisers, including Ellenbogen.
On June 17, Dr. Elliot Pellman, the NFL medical director who once ran the league’s discredited concussion research program, emailed Dr. Maria Freire, FNIH executive director, to say the NFL had “significant concerns [regarding] BU and their ability to be unbiased and collaborative.” He asked Freire to “slow down the process until we all have a chance to speak and figure this out.”
Freire forwarded the email to Koroshetz.
“Yes, we knew this was coming,” Koroshetz replied the next day, according to the report. “Lots of history here. But our process was not tainted and all above board. … Trouble is of course that the [Stern] group is led by people who first broke the science open, and NFL owners and leadership think of them as the creators of the problem.”
Less than a week later, the NFL’s chief health and medical adviser, Dr. Betsy Nabel, emailed Koroshetz directly. She attached a 61-page affidavit that Stern had submitted in support of players who opposed the settlement of a class action lawsuit against the NFL in 2014.
“I hope this group is able to approach their research in an unbiased manner,” Nabel wrote, according to the report.
On June 29, the FNIH arranged a conference call to discuss the NFL’s objections. Along with Miller, the report states the NFL was represented by Ellenbogen and Dr. Hunt Batjer — the co-chairmen of the Head, Neck and Spine Committee, which helps set league concussion policy — and another committee member, Dr. Mitch Berger. (During Super Bowl week in February, Berger made headlines by saying he did not believe a link had been established between football and brain disease.)
On the conference call, the NFL raised concerns about Stern’s alleged bias and the potential conflict of interest during the peer-review process.
Koroshetz told investigators that shortly thereafter, Ellenbogen called back to reiterate that “he could not recommend that the NFL fund the BU study, because he believed that Dr. Stern had a conflict of interest and that the grant application process had been tainted by bias.”
Ellenbogen previously denied to Outside the Lines that he was part of any effort by the league to influence funding, saying that he doesn’t know Stern “and therefore do not have an opinion of him.”
The report is particularly critical of Ellenbogen, who chairs the neurological surgery department at University of Washington, for intervening as both a grant applicant and a representative of the NFL.
“Dr. Ellenbogen is a primary example of the conflicts of interest between his role as a researcher and his role as an NFL adviser,” the report states. “He had been part of a group that applied for the $16 million grant. After his group was not selected, Dr. Ellenbogen became one of the NFL’s primary advocates in expressing concerns surrounding the process with the BU grant selection. … This series of events raises significant questions about Dr. Ellenbogen’s own bias.”
Through last fall, the NIH struggled to find out whether the NFL would honor its commitment to pay for the study.
“Clearly, it would be best if [the NIH] could count on the entire support from the NFL for the CTE project, as originally agreed,” Freire wrote Miller on Oct. 19.
In a separate email, she noted, the NFL had put the NIH “in a difficult budgetary situation because this is a very large grant — a cost that was not expected to be paid by taxpayers’ dollars.” Using public money would mean the NIH “will be unable to fund other meritorious research for several years.”
Freire proposed that the NFL at least pay for the first year.
“Frankly, this would also be an important statement about NFL’s commitment to research and will help dampen criticism,” she wrote. “We understand that this is a very awkward situation all around, but some level of compromise would be the best possible solution.”
Six weeks later, the NIH was still waiting on the league.
In December, days before the study was to be announced, the NFL offered to contribute $2 million, Miller told investigators.
At the same time, the NFL was continuing its efforts to redirect the $16 million to its own researchers, according to the report.
Another member of the Head, Neck and Spine Committee, Dr. Russell Lonser, a former NIH researcher, reached out to a senior NIH official to explore using the $16 million for a project that would involve the same NFL advisers. Under the plan, the researchers would not have been subjected to the NIH’s peer-review process.
The report indicates Lonser’s actions were “inappropriate” and “in direct contravention of NIH policy prohibiting donor involvement in the grant decision-making process.”
The congressional investigators applaud the NIH leadership for maintaining “the integrity of the science and the grant-review process,” but it adds that the NIH “may have gone too far in attempting to accommodate the NFL.”
The report, which will be distributed to officials with the NFL, the NIH and the FNIH, recommends that the three groups amend their current agreement to ensure that “each party has a clear understanding of its role for the remainder of this partnership.” The congressional committee will follow up with the NIH and the FNIH on its recommendations, which include establishing clearer guidelines for donors and communication with NIH officials.
The Stern study, which will include 50 researchers from 17 institutions and hundreds of former college and NFL players who will participate as subjects, officially launches next week in Boston.
Pallone told Outside the Lines the NFL’s actions are particularly harmful to the league’s players: “It says to them that they really can’t trust the NFL to do the right thing.”
NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith said on SportsCenter on Monday that the union decided, years ago, to split from the NFL on such matters because of the league’s conflicted history around brain research. He said the league has no commitment to the health and safety of its players.
“It’s one of the most troubling and disturbing reports I’ve seen,” Smith said of the Outside the Lines story Monday, adding he wasn’t surprised, however. “It reaffirms the fact that the league has its own view about how they care about players in the NFL.”
Pallone said he hopes the report will push the league to make changes.
“The history with the league is, if you catch them, then they start to listen,” Pallone said.
although i concede that saying he could be goff’s go to receiver was going a little overboard. i’m just a little anxious about how goff will do his rookie year. feel like he’s gonna need the receivers to step up. don’t think the rookies are gonna be up for it. not this year. austin seems like their best chance.
This kind of no-holds-barred, “I’m just right” board war has to have limits. So maybe by July we should think about slowing it down.
Anyway, you’re right…Goff would do better as a rookie if he had a receiver. I don’t know, it’s possible that Tavon steps up and adds more receiving chops. It’s also possible Britt does the same. Maybe Marquez has some of that in him. Maybe Quick goes back to what he was showing early in 2014. It’s also possible they work Gurley in more to the passing game. (I’m not going to count Bailey.) Maybe all that happens, or a percentage of it. Maybe a rookie defies the normal odds and steps up.
I don’t think it’s bleak, it just looks like one big question.
Reminds me of the snakebit past, a little. Bradford began his rookie season with Mark Clayton, and Clayton looked like he was going to be better than his Ravens self and give SB a go-to guy. Then he was hurt in the 2nd game. This isn’t like that…there’s no Clayton this time, and there probably isn’t a Laurent Robinson or Gilyard either (meaning I don’t think they will end up stuck with guys who are just that bad). There’s no Amendola either, but then Amendola was a mixed blessing (he was a short yardage magician but not an outside guy).
I think it’s possible there’s someone in this mix who can get 60/900–
Austin?
Britt?
Cooper?
Marquez?
North?
McRoberts?
Quick?
Spruce?
Thomas?I am not listing Williams because he has too far to go and too much to prove.
My own view, remember, is that 2017 will look better regarding all this than 2016 does now. Which, I know, is a big help. I am even afraid to use the phrase “be patient” around longterm diehard Rams fans. It sounds too much like “Niagra Falls.”
.
…Major General Smedley Butler got it right. So did Eisenhower when he left office.
As for job creation, that’s just not justified by basic economics.
Principal demands return. Period. Wages are a drag on returns and thus in maximizing returns, wages are minimized or eliminated.
Which means, principal seeks return in which there are few people required or no people required.
Why do you think speculative returns on Wall Street are so attractive? They can get returns and have ZERO of the drags on the net such as wages. The only thing to manage is risk which is still evident in any venture in which there are jobs, be it retail, manufacturing, service sector, health care, etc.
Thus, the BIGGEST LIE of all is that the wealthy are job creators. They are not. The wealthy are wealth hoarders. Their investments have proven to NOT create jobs, certainly not in the US. The returns they seek are too great for that to happen here.
The actual math is that what should have happened initially instead of some piddly little stimulus was a MASSIVE, MASSIVE stimulus in which the country borrowed at ZERO percent (the world was flooding the US with funds even then because we were one of the safe places, even still) and used the amount to rebuild our infrastructure as well as embark on much needed improvements. The amount should have been somewhere between $3-5 Trillion. Yeah…MASSIVE. Why so much???
Well, firstly, we’re going to have to pay that bill, anyway. As Flint has shown, we’ll have to replace lead pipes all across the country and upgrade/replace outdated water treatment systems including the ability to treat for sodium which they can’t now such that some city water is technically clean, but not safe for children or heart patients/elderly people.
Now, if we go about it the way we “rebuilt” Iraq, yeah, it wouldn’t be worth it. However, with smart project management, efficiencies can be found and executed. Understand that mostly this wouldn’t be the “government” building anything, but private firms building according to government plans or guidelines and if private contractors can build nuclear submarines and work with the government, it can work with bridges, water treatment plans and schools.
With such an infusion in the hands of people who LIVE and WORK, the demand would be immense. At that point, it would be incumbent upon the Fed to manage inflation, Federal and state legislatures to deal with regulations to encourage entrepreneurship without selling out the environment or workers and All level of governments to FINALLY realize that creating JOBS doesn’t mean dooky squat if people can’t GET TO WORK.
Here in Central Florida, Public Transportation is laughable. Our Criminal Governor Rick Scott torpedoed a high speed rail that was mostly paid for and was shovel ready (and I mean shovel ready in a way that isn’t hyperbole. When the I-4 was put in, it was designed with some kind of rail system in mind and even graded such that the ONLY change needed along the entire path, only one rail overpass would need to be either lifted or removed. That’s it. So, there’s no high speed rail connecting Orlando with Tampa. Orlando has more jobs and Tampa has a bunch of bedroom communities with workers. Moreover, the tourism possibilities were immense. Disney and Universal were crazy about the idea of being able to tap into the beaches of the Gulf Coast as well as the Tampa Cruise Terminal. So much synergy…
Point being that this was just one example of MANY in which those synergies were allowed to lapse for personal gain of a few. Thus, even if an entrepreneur in Tampa or Orlando wanted to succeed, there are real barriers in place. Like…how does an employee GET to work? How do customers get to you?
Principal doesn’t want to build public roads or bridges or sewage plants or schools or internet infrastructure or any number of other things that are critical for us as a society.
Principal demands return like the mob. Remember Ray Liotta in Good Fellas? That’s principal. “But we need jobs.” “Fuck you, pay me.” “But we need clean water.” “Fuck you, pay me.” “But the bridges are about to collapse!” “Fuck you, pay me.”
That’s principal. Principal is a reluctant job creator, it at all.
Again allow the wealthy the option of lowering their ADDITIONAL tax burden by investing in US job creation.
With all the talk about principal and Wall Street I wonder if you get it. You seem to be flying high over the problem. I only had two econ classes in college. Perhaps you had more? I’m not talking about people with the cash to invest in Wall Street. I’m not talking about Wall Street investing in private business two blocks off of Main Street either. I’m not talking about crowd source funding or any other internet access funding during the open hours of the public library either. I’m talking about businesses started out of desperation on a shoestring to bring some money in. When that effort begins to succeed the government takes notice and the regulations either end the business or forces the owner into debt to comply. That is the system in place today throughout this nation.
The upside to being a Rams fan is heartbreak.
Sprinkles are for winners.
Topic: JT chat, 5/11
Prime Time says: These are selected questions and answers. There are a lot of remarks about Stan Kroenke’s comments concerning Kurt Warner which I chose not to post, except for one to use as an example, because they show a lack of creativity and are just plain boring. Actually JT is pretty magnanimous with most of these questions. I wouldn’t have the same amount of patience. To read the whole chat click the link below. You will not learn anything new but hopefully at least be amused at times.
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Jim Thomas: NFL Chat
http://sports.live.stltoday.com/Event/NFL_chat_with_Jim_Thomas_17?Page=0
Do you think that Greg Robinson can take the obvious next step this year and be a positive contributor. We could sure use a number 2 pick to stand up and live up to his draft position
THOMAS: Sure. If not, I think the Rams really have to wonder if he’s NFL left tackle material. But as he enters his third year, he should be well-versed enough in terms of knowing protections, knowing how to handle line stunts, etc. Obviously, the holding penalties must drop. He had a league-high 11 last season. And he’s got to clean up technique and be more patient on his pass sets.
————
Boy, that ’06 draft was a disaster! And ’05 + ’07 weren’t much better…
THOMAS: Yeah there’s a lot to choose from in terms of bad Rams drafts in St Louis, but I think the ’06 edition takes the prize. The booby prize that is. Tye Hill, Joe Klopfenstein, Claude Wroten, Jon Alston, Dominique Byrd. What a murderer’s row. . .pause. . .NOT! And the ’07 version wasn’t far behind with Adam Carriker, Brian Leonard, Jonathan Wade, and Dustin Fry at the top.
At least Leonard turned out to be a pretty good role player (you just don’t draft a role player in the second round). And Carriker would’ve been better off had he been drafted by a 3-4 team to play end. Injuries plagued him over parts of his career as well.
———–
Jim, what did you think of Bradford’s “trade me” demand?
THOMAS: Obviously a bad move. Although I do think the Philadelphia front office mishandled this by signing Bradford to an extension with $11 million in up-front signing bonus money and then signing Chase Daniel to $6 million in signing bonus and roster bonus money. You spend all that money and then you go out and trade a bunch of draft picks for Carson Wentz?
Makes you wonder if Eagles actually have a plan. I have a lot of respect for Bradford from his time in St. Louis, and what he went through here. But I don’t really think he’s earned the right to demand a trade. Not that he was necessarily a fan darling in Philly anyway but this doesn’t help his cause.
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Over or under 1500 yards for Gurley ?
THOMAS: I’m gonna say under. I see him at about 1,400 yards in 2016, barring injury.
—–
So Mr. Kroenke was the one who saw “it” in Kurt Warner, huh?
THOMAS: Yeah who knew? I also heard recently that Kroenke was the one who suggested that Ozzie Smith do a backflip on the way out to shortstop. Thought it might energize the crowd.
—–
How much change do we expect to the passing game with the addition of Groh and so many new players on Offense? Are we looking at a tweaking of the status quo or something more than that?
THOMAS: I think we’re talking about a tweaking of the status quo. I’d be surprised to see anything resembling a radical departure from the conservative, run-first approach that Jeff Fisher’s teams have employed for the last couple of decades.
—–
Day 1 regular season starting QB is ????? Also, what happens to Sean Manion this year with Foles and Keenum both ahead of him on depth chart?
THOMAS: I’d be surprised if it wasn’t Goff. It’s hard for me to imagine spending that many draft picks to move up to No. 1 for a guy and not have him in the lineup on opening day. As for what the depth chart may or may not say, I wouldn’t pay too much attention to that at this time of year.
—–
Jim, has there been any discussion concerning the Isaac Bruce benefit of involving current or recent members of the Rams roster? Not to play but to make an appearance to say goodbye? Or is this primarily for GSOT-era players and coaches?
THOMAS: To my knowledge, the most recent-tenured players the Legends organizers approached were Chris Long and James Laurinaitis, who obviously both had long stints in St. Louis. I don’t think either plans on attending. I also think Steven Jackson was invited. But the primary purpose of the get-together was to reunite many of the Greatest Show players to say thanks and goodbye.
—–
Jim you made a comment in an article not long ago saying Jared Goff did not possess much charisma. Having followed his college career I really couldn’t disagree more. I was wondering if you had anything to qualify that remark?
THOMAS: It’s just based on seeing him up-close in a press conference setting on a couple of occasions. And a couple of other media members who I respect came away with the same impression. Maybe he’ll relax more as he grows into the job. Hey, Bradford was similar in a way when he came out and gradually relaxed to a degree around the St. Louis media. It was just a first impression; I wouldn’t read all that much into it.
—–
How would categorize Alexander at this point in his career based on where the Rams drafted him? Reach? Bust? Too early to tell?
THOMAS: I’d say he’s right about where the Rams hoped he would be at this point. He really developed a lot over the past season. Remember, he was a Day 3 pick _ fourth round.
—–
why not mannion? seems to me he was their developmental pick. college production suggests he could make it in the nfl. he got the proverbial holding the clipboard year. i dont see how a goff and all the picks are better than giving manion a start.
THOMAS: You make some interesting points. Mannion has very little in the way of mobility, but I do think he has a strong arm and good accuracy. The Rams obviously think Goff can be a difference-maker at quarterback.
—–
I hope Goff turns out to be a great qb. But I just hate to see them give up the farm to move up. I remember how it turned out for the Redskins.
THOMAS: Agreed. There’s no doubt Goff has some talent. Whether he has enough talent, and enough talent around him, to get the team over .500 and into the playoffs remains to be seen.
—–
Compare and contrast the Rams hype for Goff vs. how they hyped Bradford
THOMAS: The Rams didn’t really hype Bradford. He came into the NFL as a Heisman Trophy winner with lots of national acclaim. Now Goff may be very talented. He may turn out to be a better pro than Bradford. But he enters the NFL without the resume or the team success that Bradford had in college.
—–
Does Brian Quick make the jump to full time starter and difference maker this year, or is he who he has been these last few years (minus the injury year)?
THOMAS: As we sit here now he is a full-time starter, and there aren’t really any alternatives to him starting. I know he was coming back from a severe shoulder injury last year, but I expected more from him. Much more. I’m sure a lot of us did. Having a full offseason will help this time around. That wasn’t the case a year ago.
But he will have to adjust to some tweaks on offense with Boras and Groh now running the show, and hasn’t always been quick to adjust to altered schemes. I think the best thing for him would be to line him up at one position, be it flanker or split end, and just keep him there.
—–
One of the LA trolls over on NFL Talk accuses STL of only now saying the Rams stink because they moved to LA. Do these people on the Left Coast who claim to have been Rams fans for the past 21 years actually watch them play? We haven’t stuck our heads in the sand and ignored the past 12 non-winning seasons. They have been ripped right and left by STL fans for their inept leadership, ownership and play on the field constantly.
THOMAS: I’m not really aware of what the “trolls” may or may not have been saying. I know it’s basically asking the impossible but I wish the LA and StL fans could get along. This has never been about the fans _ the Rams leaving LA and now the Rams leaving St. Louis. It has been at the fans’ expense. And neither fan base deserved what happened. The only distinction I make is that in the case of St. Louis it had a stadium plan in place. One that was much better than the league or Kroenke would admit to. There was nothing resembling a stadium plan in place in Orange County in 1994.
—–
I totally agree with you when you say you wish LA fans and St. Louis fans can get along. I am a LA guy but I am not a troll, (whatever that is), but I am a Ram fan, and I come on here because I like to read about my Rams whether they are St. Louis or LA. In the famous words of Rodney King, “Can’t we all just get along?”
THOMAS: An olive branch from the West Coast. But keep in mind, Rams fans here are dealing with a stormy divorce after 21 years of marriage. You don’t get over that quickly.
—–
Do you think if Fisher and Snead are not resigned after year 5 this would be a dream coaching job even without having a #1 draft pick? Based off the defense being set and having a prime Gurley and Goff?
THOMAS: Prior to this offseason when the Rams lost 4 defensive starters (Jenkins, McLeod, Long, Laurinaitis) I know the Rams’ defense was highly thought of around the league. Very highly thought of by some. I know of one organization that teased their head coach: “You’d be 14-2 with the Rams’ defensive talent.” But it takes more than defense to win championships. Gurley is a great piece, obviously. I think Goff can be a good piece. But there are some holes on the depth chart, and the talent level at WR and TE is hardly ideal.
—–
Have the Rams received calls about Mannion? I’m no expert but I’d love to see him get a string of starts somewhere to see what he can do.
THOMAS: I’m not aware of any calls on Mannion.
—–
How do you think the Chiefs will do this year? How far will they go to the playoffs if they make it? And what is the key to their season?
THOMAS: Well, I’m hardly the expert on the Chiefs. But I hope to familiarize myself with them more as we approach the 2016 season. A key for them on defense, of course, is the status of Justin Houston following his knee surgery. If he’s right, he’s one of the game’s most dominant pass rushers. But his playing status is uncertain for next year.
With the uncertainties in Denver due to the QB situation, and some of the defensive losses due to free agency, I think the Broncos might come back to the pack some and the Chiefs will have a legit chance to win the AFC West. But keep an eye on Oakland I think they’re a team on the cusp.
—–
How much better does the addition of Demarco Murray and the drafting of Derrick Henry make the Titans. I think Marcus Marriota will be a star in this league. Do these two help him become that more quickly?
THOMAS: Even anything, I think last season’s experience in Philly should’ve humbled Murray to a degree and sharpened his focus. Hopefully, he’s in a better offensive system _ one that will maximum his one-cut-and-go style more than was the case with the Eagles. Having a power back such as Henry to share the load will help. I do like Mariota. Having a strong running game around him can’t hurt.
—–
Who wins a championship first? The Blues or the Rams?
THOMAS: I’m going to say. . .the Cubs.
—–
How long do you think you will be able to keep your “insider” status in regards to the rams and bring us credible information? Or is it starting to wane already? Anything new on Witner?
THOMAS: “Insider status”?
Well, I’d say it’s starting to wane at this time because I’m obviously not out in LA covering the rookie orientation nor will I be out there for OTAs, etc. But in terms of perspective, and the team’s strengths and weaknesses and so forth, I’m sure I’ll still have things to offer over the next year or so.
—–
What was your favorite pick by the Rams this year?
THOMAS: I liked the two WR picks. I’m big on college production in drafting, and it’s hard to argue with the production of Pharoh Cooper and Mike Thomas in college. Now, how quickly they can adjust to the NFL game and how much they can contribute at this level _ who knows? But they were good value for where the Rams got them in the draft.
—–
I’d like for the Rams to develop a more vertical passing game as opposed to the side to side passing last year, but I wonder if we have the WR’s or TE’s to do this. What are your thoughts?
THOMAS: Well, Austin obviously can get deep, but most of his big plays haven’t really come on deep balls. Britt and Quick have some downfield ability. So I do see your point. And with a still inexperienced line and quite possibly a rookie QB starting on Day 1, I’m not sure you want all that many 7-step drops.
—–
Given the LA franchise’s shaky O-line play do you think that Jared Goff runs the risk of ending up in the David Carr category of quarterbacks who could have been good but got too beat up to make it very far?
THOMAS: Maybe, but the Rams gave up only 18 sacks last year. The pass-blocking actually was better than expected.
—–
The 18 sacks is very misleading, the Rams also ranked dead last in QB rating
[/i]THOMAS: Yeah, but the question was on pass-blocking not quarterback play.
—–
Did it surprise you that the Jets took Hackenberg in the Draft that high.
THOMAS: Yeah it did. He was about a 55% completion passer in college. That just doesn’t cut it in the NFL. There’s only so much you can do when it comes to improving accuracy.
—–
———Even if Goff works out, the Rams still need WR’s and they don’t have a first round pick next year. They might have to overpay in free agency just to get someone for Goff to throw to.
THOMAS: They will have to do something, unless they’ve unearthed a gem in Copper or Thomas, or the light switch comes on for Quick. I’ll recycle this stat for you from last year: Receptions and yards for Julio Jones in 2015: 137 for 1,871. Receptions and yards for Antonio Brown in 2015: 136 for 1,834. Receptions and yards for ENTIRE RAMS WR CORPS in 2015: 137 for 1,635.
—–
What did you think about Manning helping out in Miami. I think he would make a great coach in the future if he wanted to be.
THOMAS: Usually players who have had long NFL careers don’t end up as coaches. The hours for an assistant coach are unending. And if you’re financially secure from a long career, why put yourself through that. Also there’s the great player factor. How many great QBs end up as coordinators or QB coaches? Plus, I think it’s often a case where they can’t coach what they did as players _ because they had such rare skill.
—–
The Rams weakest position on the OL has to be at center do you think they will address it ?
THOMAS: I’m not entirely sure that the coaching staff would agree with that assessment. I know of one internal review that had Barnes rated as the team’s best offensive lineman in 2015. Barnes was a lot better over the second half of last season. And there are other intriguing options as well, including Demetrius Rhaney.
—–
Any other tidbits from talking to Charley Armey?
THOMAS: Nothing earthshattering. He and his wife Audrey, aka The Barracuda, just got back from a trip to Australia and New Zealand. Charley still keeps an eye on the game. And gets to St. Louis a couple times a year. I think in a way he likes the Rams’ move up to get a QB but realizes that in cases like this you’re often grooming the QB for the next coach.
—–
How much does Carson Palmer have left in the tank? He’s getting up there in age, and had a couple of serious knee injuries.
THOMAS: Interesting that you should mention this. I wondered if the Cardinals would make a run at Paxton Lynch at the end of the first round for just that reason. I think Palmer still has a couple, three years left. But I think if you put the truth serum into the Cardinals’ front office/coaching staff, I think they realize they have a short window to win a Super Bowl with their current group of players.
—–
Who was the Rams best undrafted signing ?
THOMAS: There are a lot of interesting pickups. Chubb the linebacker from Wake Forest. Fox, who dominated as a pass rusher at the Division II level. Both of the St. Louis product are interesting and were highly successful at the smaller-college level _ Jordan, the defensive back from Missouri Western and McRoberts, the wide receiver from Southeast Missouri.
—–
Who wins rookie of the year
THOMAS: Man, everybody seems to be handing it to Ezekiel Elliott at this point.
—–
I know the Cowboys also practice at Oxnard, but for a multi-billion dollar busines to have the team practice on open fields, and conduct business in tents and a hotel just seems odd. I know the current situation is temporary, but…
THOMAS: Yeah, at face value it’s kind of sketchy. But keep in mind, the Cowboys just hold training camp there. And the Rams will only be there in terms of OTAs for about another month or so.
—–
In the end, do you think that Mark Davis will be allowed to move the Raiders to Vegas?
THOMAS: A young Mark Davis?
I think it’s better than 50-50 if the Vegas stadium plan materializes.
—–
Who do you think will be Goff’s favorite go-to target as the season unfolds?
THOMAS: Wow. That’s a good one. I’m gonna say. . . Tavon Austin.
—–
I get a sense that the media goes lightly on players that don’t have, um, the sharpest knife in the drawer. Do you see that as an unseen fact by fans for players not really fulfilling their potential – I mean, aside from injury.
THOMAS: No one likes calling a player dumb. It’s a helluva thing to call someone.
—–
Jim, how has the Rams move impacted the local media either positively or negatively in terms of the workload.
THOMAS: Until now, I’ve been almost as busy as usual. But it changes now without rookie minicamp or OTAs to cover. As for the rest of the media, most that cover the Rams have also covered other teams over the years. So they’ve been spending more time with the Blues and the Cardinals lately.
—–
Who will give Gurley a rest among our RB’s?
THOMAS: Cunningham looks like the third-down back again. Tre Mason, assuming he puts the off-field issue behind him fills in. Trey Watts, remember, is still serving the indefinite drug suspension.
THURSDAY, MAY 5, 2016 06:00 AM EDT
It’s not about sexism: Camille Paglia on Trump, Hillary’s “restless bitterness” and the end of the elites
We don’t know if Trump can morph into a statesman. We do know the media/political class fears his threat to Hillary
CAMILLE PAGLIA
Is it 1968 all over again?
Violent clashes between antiwar protestors and Chicago police during the 1968 Democratic Convention boomeranged against the New Left and sabotaged the presidential hopes of the Democratic nominee, Hubert Humphrey, a genial, compassionate populist. The American electorate, repelled by street chaos, veered to the Right and made Richard M. Nixon president. The new crossover Nixon Democrats laid the groundwork for the two conservative presidencies of Ronald Reagan in the 1980s.
In our current campaign, the obvious strategy by Democratic operatives to disrupt Donald Trump’s rallies and link him to brewing fascism (via lurid media images of wild-eyed brawlers) has backfired with a bang. The seething demonstrators who blocked Trump’s motorcade at last week’s state GOP convention in Burlingame, California, forcing him and his retinue to ditch their vehicles and sprint to a rear entrance on foot, managed to alienate mainstream voters, boost Trump’s national momentum, and guarantee his sweeping victory in this week’s Indiana primary. With the withdrawal of Ted Cruz, Trump is now the presumptive GOP nominee. Great job, Dem wizards!
The helicopter TV footage of Trump and his Secret Service detail on the move was certainly surreal. All those beefy men in shiny, dark suits rapidly filing through narrow concrete barriers (like cattle chutes at a rodeo) and then scrambling up a grassy knoll! It reminded me of the flight through the woods by scores of elegantly dressed Mafiosi after police raided the 1957 gangland convention in Apalachin, New York. (True, I have a special interest in that colorful event: Bartolo Guccia, who told the cops he was just delivering fish, ran his store out of the ground floor of my paternal grandparents’ house next to the Sons of Italy in nearby Endicott, my home town.) The optics of the aerial photos made Trump look like a late Roman emperor being hustled to safety by the Praetorian Guard, which over time had become a kingmaker, supplanting the authority of the Senate and the old patrician class.
Trump has knocked the stilts out from the GOP establishment and crushed the pretensions of a battalion of political commentators on both the Left and Right. Portraying him as a vile racist, illiterate boob, or the end of civilization as we know it hasn’t worked because his growing supporters are genuinely motivated by rational concerns about border security and bad trade deals. Whether Trump, with his erratic impulses and gratuitous crudities, can morph toward statesmanship remains to be seen. We don’t need another bumbling rube like George W. Bush, who bizarrely ambushed German chancellor Angela Merkel by grabbing and massaging her shoulders from behind as she was seated at a G8 Summit meeting in St. Petersburg in 2006.
The aerial view of Trump at Burlingame gave me a moment of gender vertigo. His odd, brassy blonde hairdo, which I normally think of as a retro Bobby Rydell quiff, looked from behind like a smoothly backcombed 1960’s era woman’s bouffant. Shelley Winters flashed into my mind, and then it hit me: “It’s all about his mother!” I had never seen photos of Mary MacLeod Trump (who died at 88 in 2000) and immediately looked for them. Of course, there it was—the puffy blonde bouffant to which Trump pays daily homage in his impudent straw thatch.
In their focus on Trump’s real-estate tycoon father, the media seem to have missed that the teetotaling Trump’s deepest connection was probably to his strong-willed, religious mother. Born in the stark, wind-swept Hebrides Islands off the western coast of Scotland (the next North Atlantic stop is Iceland), she was one tough cookie. She and her parents were Gaelic speakers, products of a history extending back to the medieval Viking raids. I suddenly realized that that is Trump’s style. He’s not a tribal Highlander, celebrated in Scotland’s long battle for independence from England, but a Viking, slashing, burning, and laughing at the carnage in his wake. (Think Kirk Douglas flashing his steely smile in the 1958 Hollywood epic, The Vikings.) Trump takes savage pleasure in winning for its own sake—an attribute that speaks directly to the moment, when a large part of the electorate feels that the U.S. has become timid and uncertain and made far too many humiliating concessions to authoritarian foreign powers like China, Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Despite their show of bravado, most savvy Democratic strategists have surely known for months that Trump was by far the most formidable of Hillary Clinton’s potential opponents—which is why they’ve been playing the race and riot cards against him to the max. Hillary has skimmed along in her bouncing gender bubble, virtually untouched by her too chivalrous Democratic rivals. Far from Hillary (in this election cycle or the last) having a harder time as a woman candidate, she has been habitually shielded by her gender. At the early debates, for example, Martin O’Malley was paralyzed by his deference to her sacred womanhood and hardly dared raise his voice to contest her brazen untruths from three feet away. Meanwhile, in debate after debate, unconstrained by the sycophantic media moderators, Hillary rudely interrupted, talked over both O’Malley and Bernie Sanders, and hogged airtime like it was going out of style. Not until CNN’s April 14 debate in Brooklyn on the eve of the New York primary did moderators forcibly put a lid on Hillary’s obnoxious filibustering.
The most pernicious aspect of this Democratic campaign is the way the field was cleared long in advance for Hillary, a flawed candidate from the get-go, while an entire generation of able Democratic politicians in their 40s was muscled aside, on pain of implied severance from future party support. It is glaringly obvious, given how well Bernie Sanders (my candidate) has done despite a near total media blackout for the past year, that Hillary would never have survived to the nomination had she had younger, more well-known, and centrist challengers. Hillary’s front-runner status has been achieved by DNC machinations and an army of undemocratic super-delegate insiders, whose pet projects will be blessed by the Clinton golden hoard. Hillary has also profited from Sanders’ too-gentlemanly early tactics, when he civilly refrained from pushing back at key moments, such as the questionable Iowa and Nevada caucuses, which he probably would have won had there not been last-minute monkey business by party operatives.
As for the tired excuse of evil sexism in American presidential politics, it wasn’t sexism that stopped two far more qualified, accomplished, and skillful Democratic politicians, Senator Dianne Feinstein and former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, from running for president. No, it was the sheer, stupid, life-cannibalizing drudgery of our excruciatingly prolonged and geographically vast campaign process that daunted and discouraged them. Feinstein and Pelosi, to all reports, enjoy a rewarding private life that they do not want violated and blown to hell. But Hillary, consumed by her own restless bitterness, has no such tranquility. The wheels must grind! The future must be conquered! Past slights must be avenged! So it’s all planning and scheming and piling up loot, the material emblem of existential worth. It’s all talk and more talk about ideals and values without actually achieving anything concrete–except, of course, for Hillary’s one notable legacy, the destabilization of North Africa.
And is there anything creepier than that current Hillary meme, the campaign slogan “I’m with her”? The blurred borderlines of those pronouns (“I” numbly dissolving into “her”) and that ambiguous preposition (“with” her like a child, a lover, or a nurse’s aide with a geriatric patient?) are close to pathological. The Hillary acolytes are joined at the hip to “her”, the Great Leader Who Needs No Name, the Maternal Tit daubed in wormwood, the bitter toxin left by men–those spoilers of the universe who created the master structures of modern civilization that provide us put-upon gals with jobs, transportation, abundant food, clean water, housing, electricity, and a magical disease-spurning municipal sewage system that only men seem required to clean and repair.
Hillary’s anti-male subtext, to which so many women voters are plainly drawn, flared into view last week when she crowed to CNN’s Jake Tapper about her proven skills in sex war: “I have a lot of experience dealing with men who sometimes get off the reservation in the way they behave and how they speak….I’m not going to deal with their temper tantrums or their bullying or their efforts to try to provoke me.” The prestige media tried to suppress Hillary’s gaffes here (which breezily insulted both men and Native Americans) by simply not reporting them. Her campaign deflected initial criticism, but she made no personal response until the issue kept escalating. Five days later, she sat down with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell and incredibly claimed that she had been referring to Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Rep. Rick Lazio and Vladimir Putin—none of whom have had perceptible “temper tantrums” about her.
Conservative radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh, analyzing Hillary’s remarks as most mainstream journalists refused to do, interpreted them as a cloaked reference to her embattled life with her philandering husband. However, I assumed from the start that “temper tantrums” (a term applied to small children) was another of Hillary’s odd childhood flashbacks and that it described her ranting father’s abusive behavior toward his wife and family (detailed in Carl Bernstein’s 2007 biography, A Woman in Charge). It was her stoical mother who trained Hillary in the art of contemptuous endurance of men’s squalling infantilism. Women are noble, superior creatures; men are yapping dogs.
And as for “off the reservation”, wow—I guess Hillary should take a gander at John Ford’s classic Western, Fort Apache (1948), where John Wayne tangles with Henry Fonda as a U.S. Cavalry martinet vengefully pursuing the Native American “savages,” led by the famous Chiricahua Apache chief Cochise, who refuse to stay on the reservation decreed for them by the government during Westward expansion. The bloody Apache wars in Arizona were one of the darkest chapters in American history. But there you have Hillary’s gender theory in a nutshell: men are bums and bullies who belong in internment camps under female lock and key.
A side note in the Andrea Mitchell interview was the inadvertent revelation about Hillary’s health. She was wearing a conveniently high mandarin collar, but check out the moment when she mentions Vladimir Putin: one can clearly see an unmistakable lump bulging from the left side of her neck. Whether it is a goiter or some other growth should surely be of legitimate public concern in a presidential candidate. But as a friend tartly wrote to me this week, “Of course not one reporter out of the thousand working reporters in America will dare to ask.”
The upside to being a Rams fan is heartbreak.
Sprinkles are for winners.
Dane Bruglar on the prospects:
TYLER HIGBEE | Western Kentucky 6056|249 lbs|5SR Clearwater, Fla. (East Lake) 12/31/1992 (age 23) #89 GRADE 3rd-4th Round
MEASUREABLES Arm: 33 1/4 | Hand: 10 1/4 | Wingspan: 80 7/8 COMBINE N/A (injury; left knee)
PRO DAY N/A (positional drills only)BACKGROUND: A two-star wide receiver recruit out of high school, Higbee received two FBS-level scholarship offers, committing to Western Kentucky over Colorado State. He caught two passes for 92 yards as a true freshman receiver in 2011 before redshirting in 2012, making the transition to tight end. He started three games as a sophomore in 2013, recording 13 catches for 169 yards and one touchdown. Higbee started three games again in 2014 as a junior and posted 15 receptions for 230 yards and four touchdowns. Despite battling injuries, he had his most productive season as a senior in 2015 (eight starts), finishing with 38 catches for 563 yards and eight touchdowns, earning First Team All-CUSA honors. Higbee accepted his invitation to the 2016 Senior Bowl, but was forced to pull out due to injury.
STRENGTHS: Speed to threaten the seam with smooth acceleration…athleticism to catch the ball without breaking stride, creating YAC…soft hands and extends to snag, looking the ball into his large mitts…natural body control and coordination to adjust and complete inaccurate throws…displays savvy and quickness at the top of routes, showing little wasted motion…doesn’t allow defenders to slow him in his patterns…wins 50-50 balls due to body position and strength, absorbing contact and keeping his focus…competitive ballcarrier and barrels through contact…has committed himself to adding weight to his frame with growth potential to add more bulk…holds his own as a blocker, extending and looking to engage his target…can get on the perimeter and take out defenders…production has improved each season, including career-bests as a senior.
WEAKNESSES: Former wideout who is still developing the muscle on his frame…needs to tweak technical issues as a route runner, including depth and timing…more of a get-in-the-way blocker, lacking the upper body power or hand strength to latch-and-drive…limited core strength and inline hip snap – pops at contact, but doesn’t sustain…doesn’t always play as big as he looks at the catch point…allows the ball into his frame at times…needs to better secure the ball after the catch – two career fumbles…below average career production despite a pass happy offense and record-breaking quarterback…strong durability concerns, missing four games and parts of a several others as a senior due to a left knee sprain (Oct. 2015) – injury also kept him out for the Senior Bowl and NFL Combine.
SUMMARY: A one-year starter, Higbee is a receiver-turned-tight end who steadily progressed over his career and emerged as an impact player in 2015 despite battling a knee issue most of the season. He has natural receiving traits with reliable focus and smooth athleticism to create mismatches down the field and between the hashes. Higbee lacks the prototypical bulk or strength to be a true inline blocker right now, but he has the physical temperament and frame to grow into that type of role. He has the tools to start in the NFL once he adds polish to his game, but the key to his evaluation is the health of his knee, which plagued him over the last six months – top-100 talent, who might last until day three due to the medical questions.
PHAROH COOPER | South Carolina 5111|203 lbs|3JR Havelock, N.C. (Havelock) 3/7/1995 (age 21) #11 GRADE 2nd Round
MEASUREABLES Arm: 32 1/4 | Hand: 09 1/8 | Wingspan: 75 COMBINE BP: 15 | VJ: 31 | BJ: 09’07”
PRO DAY 40-YD: 4.59 | 10-YD: 1.64BACKGROUND: A four-star athlete recruit out of high school, Cooper’s dream school was North Carolina, but because he didn’t have a “good feel” with the Tar Heels coaching staff, he spurned their recruitment and signed with South Carolina – arrived in Columbia as a safety before moving to receiver. He played in 11 games as a true freshman, spending most of his time on special teams as the featured kickoff returner. Cooper became a starting wide receiver as a sophomore in 2014 and had a breakout season with 69 catches for 1,136 yards and nine touchdowns (all-career highs), earning First Team All-SEC honors. He produced similar numbers as a junior in 2015, leading the Gamecocks with 66 receptions for 973 yards and eight scores and again earning First Team All-SEC honors. Cooper elected to skip his senior season and enter the 2016 NFL Draft.
STRENGTHS: Good muscle tone and has worked hard to develop his physique…electric athlete with light feet and creative moves, showing the strong strides to accelerate and eliminate pursuit angles…hits top speed instantly with excellent plant-and-go movements in his routes, not losing any speed in his breaks…smoothly changes directions without slowing down, allowing him to work back to the ball and separate in his patterns…terrific vision as a ballcarrier and follows blocks well…quick hands and reliable ballskills to be a catch-and-go threat…very good focus to pluck poor throws without breaking stride…high degree of toughness over the middle and doesn’t allow impending contact to spook him…plays his butt off each snap and never goes half speed…versatile offensive threat in college with a lot of direct snaps, averaging 7.2 yards per rush (71/513/4) and completing 56% of his passes (9-for-16/118/4)…offers return experience on special teams, averaging 4.7 yards per punt return (36/170/0) and 22.4 yards per kickoff return (16/359/0)…humble character, high-effort worker and very coachable…comes from a disciplined background, growing up in a military family – grandfather and father were Marines and his brother is currently serving in the Marines.
WEAKNESSES: Ordinary height and length for the position, limiting his catch radius…better play speed than timed speed…wasn’t asked to run a sophisticated route tree in college and still learning the nuances at the stem of patterns…will have some double-catches and needs to do a better job tracking over his shoulder…will hold the ball loose and away from his body, leading to ball security concerns – seven career fumbles…inconsistent on-the-move efficiency as a blocker, showing effort to deliver pop, but struggles to sustain…high volume of touches in college led to physical collisions, limping off the field several times on film – wore a heavy brace due to a sprained left knee (Sept. 2015).
SUMMARY: A two-year starter, Pharoh Cooper (named after the Egyptian kings) was a do-everything weapon for the Gamecocks’ offense the last two seasons, overcoming poor quarterback play to earn First Team All-SEC honors as a sophomore and junior – lined up mostly as an inside and outside receiver, but also took snaps at quarterback and running back. He is a playmaker with the ball in his hands, displaying the play speed, elusive cuts and start/stop movements to create on his own and generate separation as a route-runner. Despite only average size, Cooper doesn’t worry about contact and is always working to get open, never taking a play off. A similar prospect as Randall Cobb out of Kentucky, Cooper is a superb talent and person who will contribute in the NFL as a rookie – second round prospect who can be a jack-of-all-trades for an offense.
12. TEMARRICK HEMINGWAY | South Carolina St. 6047|244 lbs|5SR Loris, S.C. (North Myrtle Beach) 7/30/1993 (age 22) #81
GRADE 6th-7th Round
MEASUREABLES Arm: 34 | Hand: 10 | Wingspan: 81
COMBINE 40-YD: 4.71 | 10-YD: 1.67 | 20-YD: 2.76 | BP: 18 | VJ: 30.5 | BJ: 09’07” | SS: 4.31 | 3C: 6.88 PRO DAY N/ABACKGROUND: A no-star wide receiver recruit, Hemingway grew up in a small town and weighed only 180-pounds out of high school, causing him to go under- recruited by FBS programs. He received several FCS-level offers and committed to South Carolina State, redshirting in 2011. Hemmingway saw action as a true freshman in 2012 (two starts) and recorded 11 catches for 164 yards and one touchdown. He saw his playing time increase as a sophomore, recording 26 receptions for 223 yards and a career-high four touchdowns. Hemingway started 11 games as a junior in 2014 and earned First Team All-MEAC honors with 18 catches for 251 yards and one score. He started every game as a senior in 2015 and finished with 38 receptions for 418 yards and one touchdown, earning First Team All-MEAC and All-American honors. Hemingway accepted his invitation to the 2016 NFLPA Collegiate Bowl.
STRENGTHS: Skyscraper with arms and projectable frame…uses his reach to extend and highpoint, climbing the ladder…big-bodied target to split defenders and manipulate the middle of the field – consistently beat linebackers between the hashes with his whip routes on film…long, fluid strides to accelerate off the line of scrimmage and threaten the seam…flexible lower body to make strong cuts and create separation at the stem…smooth route-runner, using patience and body fakes to sell patterns…stabs at the catch point, not allowing traffic to alter his focus…good pop at initial contact as a blocker…worked hard to develop his frame, adding 60+ pounds since arriving at South Carolina State…All-American senior season and graduated with a degree in business administration (Dec. 2014)…focused, well- respected individual and earned the 2015 Walter Payton Achievement Award, which is given to the student-athlete in the MEAC/SWAC Challenge who best shows character and team spirit.
WEAKNESSES: Lean-limbed and lacks prototypical thickness and build for the position…one-gear athlete and lacks variety in his routes…most of his patterns were within seven yards of the line of scrimmage and didn’t give the secondary much to worry about on film…picks and chooses his aggressiveness at the catch point…not doing much after contact as a ballcarrier – doesn’t run as big as he looks…holds the ball too loose, leading to fumbles…upright blocker and struggles to sustain…late to recognize blocking angles and gain proper positioning…below average career production, especially in the end zone with only two combined touchdowns the last two seasons.
SUMMARY: A three-year starter at South Carolina State, Hemmingway was used as a versatile “Y” tight end and lined up inline, wing and in the slot, running mostly short-to-intermediate routes. He shows the fluid athleticism and patience in his patterns to create separation against linebackers, making a living between the hashes. Hemmingway has long vines for arms and uses his size to out-rebound the ball, but needs to consistently play up to his size and match the physicality of defenders attacking the ball. Although incredibly raw in several areas, Hemmingway is an intriguing size/speed athlete with upside to secure a NFL roster spot if given time to develop his power and mental toughness – day three developmental tight end in the mold of Ladarius Green.
JOSH FORREST | Kentucky 6031|249 lbs|5SR Paducah, Ky. (Tilghman) 2/24/1992 (age 24) #45
GRADE 6th Round
MEASUREABLES Arm: 33 1/2 | Hand: 09 1/2 | Wingspan: 81 5/8
COMBINE 40-YD: 4.88 | 10-YD: 1.69 | 20-YD: 2.83 | BP: 11 | VJ: 30.5 | BJ: 09’10” PRO DAY 40-YD: 4.83 | 10-YD: 1.74 | 20-YD: 2.80 | SS: 4.38 | 3C: 7.53BACKGROUND: A three-star tight end recruit out of high school, Joshua “Josh” Forrest committed to Kentucky as a wide receiver over Central Florida and redshirted for the Wildcats in 2011. Prior to the 2012 season, he switched from receiver to linebacker and tallied 13 tackles as a redshirt freshman, mostly on special teams. Forrest played in all 12 games as a sophomore in 2013 and gained more experience on defense with 16 tackles and his first career interception. He earned the starting middle linebacker job as a junior in 2014 (12 starts) and led the team with 110 tackles, adding 8.0t tackles for loss, four passes defended and two interceptions. Forrest again started all 12 games and led the team with 93 tackles as a senior, finishing with 6.0 tackles for loss, seven passes defended and two interceptions. He accepted his invitation to the 2016 Senior Bowl.
STRENGTHS: Tall, angular athlete with a frame that can be molded…terrific play range and flies to the ball, arriving with violent intentions…unlocks his hips with patient eyes to mirror ballcarriers…aggressive downhill angles and timing to shoot through the line of scrimmage and make plays in the backfield…physical mindset and looks to mix things up…squares well in the middle of the field to make stops…wide receiver ballskills, showing the tracking ability to adjust, drive and finish interceptions…turns into a playmaker after the interception, averaging 30.4 yards per return with two touchdowns (5/152/2)…two career blocked kicks on special teams coverages (one field goal, one punt)…graduated with a degree in community and leadership development…productive senior captain, starting every game the last two seasons.
WEAKNESSES: Very raw instinctively and often caught guessing and freelancing…wild pursuit angles and doesn’t see blockers, choosing to go the long way in order to avoid contact…upright play style and high center, causing limitations moving laterally…hyper-focused on what is happening in the backfield and loses receivers and tight ends in zone coverage – reacts, doesn’t anticipate…high tackler and too much of a hugger due to his tall pad level…late coming to balance on the move to break down and finish moving targets…streaky take-on effort, playing soft and not effectively using his length…jolted by blockers and too easily moved from his spot…doesn’t play through the whistle, giving up on plays too quickly.
SUMMARY: A two-year starter, Forrest earned the starting middle linebacker role as a junior and started every game there the past two years, leading the Wildcats in tackles both seasons. He didn’t play football until his junior year in high school and started his Kentucky career at wide receiver so his linebacker instincts are still in the development phase, lacking the anticipation or break down skills to play with desired consistency. Forrest is rangy vs. the run and plays faster than he timed, showing playmaking savvy when the ball is thrown in his area, but he is often late to react and gives up more plays than he makes in coverage. His raw traits and flashes on film are intriguing, but he is nothing more than a possible special teamer right now until his play anticipation catches up – some teams have worked him out as an edge rusher.
MIKE THOMAS | Southern Miss 6010|197 lbs|4SR Chicago, Ill. (DuSable) 8/16/1994 (age 21) #88
GRADE 4th-5th Round
MEASUREABLES Arm: 31 7/8 | Hand: 09 1/4 | Wingspan: 76 1/2
COMBINE N/A (not invited)
PRO DAY 40-YD: 4.53 | 10-YD: 1.59 | 20-YD: 2.61 | BP: 16 | VJ: 36 | BJ: 10’11” | SS: 4.29 | 3C: 7.06BACKGROUND: A no-star wide receiver recruit, Michael “Mike” Thomas’ was known for basketball, not football, in high school and he went vastly under-recruited despite gaudy production. He started at nearby College of Dupage in 2012 before transferring to Dodge City Community College in Kansas for the 2013 season. Thomas was a two-star JUCO recruit and transferred to Southern Miss over Minnesota. He didn’t join the team until late in the summer so he was behind learning the offense as a junior in 2014, starting nine games and posting 41 catches for 592 yards and five scores to earn All-CUSA Honorable Mention honors. Thomas emerged as a legitimate NFL prospect as a senior in 2015 (13 starts), leading the team with 71 receptions for 1,391 yards and 14 touchdowns to earn First Team All-CUSA honors. He accepted his invitation to the 2016 NFLPA Collegiate Bowl.
STRENGTHS: Adequate height and length for the position…fleet-of-foot athlete with lower body flexibility…excellent footwork to sell and create separation in/out of breaks…runs his routes with tempo and timing, using subtle moves at the stem…catches the ball well in stride to be a consistent YAC target…smooth body control and muscle twitch to make acrobatic adjustments on the ball…quick hands to stab the ball away from his frame…attacks anything in his zip code with springs in his legs and steady focus…locked-in competitor and always alert, never taking a play off – worked his tail off to have a chance at the NFL…returned kicks at Southern Miss, averaging 22.8 yards per return with one career touchdown (41/936/1)…above average production as a senior, setting a new school-record for single-season receiving yards (1,391) and touchdown grabs (14).
WEAKNESSES: Pipe cleaner frame with skinny limbs and lean lower body…lacks the body strength to cleanly fight through press coverage…leggy routes and needs to sharpen his technique…focus at the catch point runs hot-and-cold, running before securing or bracing for impending contact – more double-catches that you want to see on film…struggles in 50-50 situations, lacking the girth to out-muscle defenders…can be overwhelmed as a blocker…needs to develop his acumen of coverages and concepts…only two season at the FBS-level, lacking ideal experience…lean frame leads to durability concerns, missing one game as a senior and parts of several others due to minor injuries.
SUMMARY: A two-year starter at Southern Miss, Thomas spent his junior season adjusting to the FBS and learning the playbook, setting up a breakout senior season as the starting “X” receiver and one of the top statistical wideouts in the country – led the nation in receiving yards per catch (19.6) among receivers with at least 63 catches in 2015. He moves fast and bursts off his plant foot to create room to work and be a threat after the catch. Thomas is fazed by traffic and his skinny body type gives teams pause that he’ll be able to hold up long-term, but his skill-set and competitive drive are worth betting on – one of the highest rated Combine snubs in this draft class and worthy of mid-round consideration.
LA Rams News Conference GM Les Snead, HC Jeff Fisher, QB Jared Goff–April 29, 2016
(Opening Statement)
FISHER: “This is so cool. We were sitting, probably 20 or 30 minutes ago, in the back room with Jared and I and (Senior Director/Communications) Artis (Twyman) just kind of going through his last 24 hours, 48 hours and last week. He’s sleep deprived. He slept about three hours last night and that comes along with the territory. We were sitting there going through what we are going to do here and how this is going to work, and Vince Ferragamo and Jim Everett walk into the room. I want to recognize both Vince and Jim back there, thanks for coming by. That was a really special moment for us to have them come in and really be the first people to greet Jared, and it was really cool. That’s the start of a long relationship between you three. We appreciate you coming over. So, here we are, and the quicker we can get to questions, the better off we’re going to be. I am just very, very thrilled, and by the way I am in a good mood. I was not in a good mood yesterday apparently. I’m really happy to introduce our first pick here in LA, our franchise quarterback, Jared Goff.
(On if everything has slowed down since yesterday)
GOFF: “It was a crazy time, and it’s still kind of going fast right now. I’m trying to take it all in, and enjoy it as much as I can, but it’s a little bit of a whirlwind right now, but I am trying to enjoy it.”
(On if it is true that his mom and dad didn’t like that the Rams took a lot of time to present their pick)
GOFF: “(Laughs).”
(On if he has thought about the transition that he has to make coming from college football playing predominantly out of the shotgun and the biggest part of making that transition)
GOFF: “I think it is just getting used to the speed. I have the summer to get more comfortable in center and doing that stuff, but I think just getting used to the speed. It’s going to speed up more, the windows are going to be tighter, the receivers are going to be moving faster, and everyone is going to be moving faster. I think myself, and really everyone coming into the NFL as a rookie, you want to transition to the speed. It is something I am ready for, and excited for the challenge.”
(On his approach to getting his team to buy into what he can do as a quarterback)
GOFF: “At first, just kind of come in and put your head down and work hard, and just kind of stay low and gain their respect. I think you have to do that for a little while and once you do that then you can begin to lead and be the leader that you need to be, and as a quarterback you have to do that. I think I’m going to bring a hard-working mentality, and a hard-working attitude, and start with that.”
(On his demanding rookie year at Cal and the foundation it has built for him today)
GOFF: “It’s big in my development, and I think it is something that I am going to carry with me forever. It is something that I am very thankful now that I went through it, and I can look back on and use those experiences to my advantage if I ever have to go through something like that again. Hopefully, I don’t ever have to, but you always have to go through adversity, and I had to go through a lot of it that year.”
(On the video of his Cal teammates celebrating after he got drafted and what it means to him)
GOFF: “Yeah, I saw that. It was special and really cool to see. It means a lot to me to see how excited they were. They were yelling and screaming and jumping up and down; It was really cool to see that.”
(On landing in LA and the impressions of his new home)
GOFF: It feels like home. Landing back in California, in sunny southern California, and it feels like my home and where I belong.”
(On what his conversation was like with RB Todd Gurley and the first thing they talked about after he got drafted)
GOFF: “Actually he texted me last night and said congratulations, and he’s happy to have me, and ready to get to work and then I told him I am ready to go. I’m excited to be his teammate.”
(On the transition from Northern California to Southern California and if he has received grief from people staying in California)
GOFF: “I’m going to have to make a little bit of a transition here pretty soon, but yeah I have gotten a little bit of grief from that.”
(On if he is going to take Yasiel Puig up on his offer to show him LA)
GOFF: “I will take him up on that. It was a really cool move for him to do that and treat me like that. I do plan to take him up on that, hopefully this summer and go catch a game.”
(On Goff’s expectation of himself being the No 1 pick)
GOFF: “I want to come in and work hard and see what happens. I want to play as well as I can but at the same time, come in and prove myself. I hold myself to a high standard on and off the field, and in the weight room. I expect that to stay the same as I start my NFL career.”
(On the hardest part of working under center)
GOFF: “I think it is just muscle memory. It took me a few days to get used to it, and I’ve been doing it ever since I got out of Cal. It’s not something I think there is going to be too much of an issue with.
(On what the next few days after the draft will bring)
GOFF: “Hopefully I’ll get a playbook pretty soon here and get into that. Start learning some of the stuff and get acclimated with it. After today, I will probably fly back home and decompress for a little bit, relax and finally get some sleep. Then start getting ready for minicamp.”
(On if he has an expectation to be the team’s starting quarterback)
GOFF: “Again, I am going to come in and work as hard as I can. I want to prove myself and ultimately that is up to the coaches to make that decision. I am going to come in and work as hard as I can, and hopefully play well and prove myself.”
(On what point in his career did he think he’d be the No. 1 draft pick and if it is a dream come true)
GOFF: “It’s a huge dream come true for me and something you can’t really put into words. It is awesome. The phone call last night is something I will remember forever. The whole experience is very surreal, but I know it comes with a lot of responsibility. I am ready for that and very excited for it.”
(On why the quarterback position so difficult to evaluate)
SNEAD: “That’s an excellent question. I’ll start with there probably are not enough QBs on the planet to meet the demand. As you move up levels from pee-wee, to middle school, to high school to college – you really don’t know until you take that next step and play. That is the hardest thing. It is two different systems and two different games. It’s just a hard position. I call it one of the most rewarding jobs on the planet, but it’s probably one of the toughest. Each step you move up the ladder it gets tougher. I’ll end it by saying there just probably aren’t enough QBs on the planet to meet the demand.”
(On how much control Goff had over the line of scrimmage and how it will help his transition)
GOFF: “I was in control pf a lot as far as protections, route combos, running plays and everything in between. At the line of scrimmage, I was changing a lot of stuff. I think it is something that will transition well and I can carry with me to the next level.”
(On how Fisher will temper enthusiasm for getting Goff into action)
FISHER: “It’s really simple. We are going to have our rookie minicamp this weekend, an orientation. Then the guys come back, stick around and visit with the coaches. We’ll have OTAs (organized team activities) and training camp practices. That is really all our focus. That is where it all starts. It’s about football. It’s about winning games and preparing Jared with the rest of his teammates to get ready for the season. The enthusiasm, the excitement and everything we are experiencing here now in LA is great. It’s going to carry over into attendance and all that. It will help us win games and sign players, but our focus is football. That’s what we do. That’s why we are here.”
(On what the moment meant to meet Jim Everett and Vince Ferragamo)
GOFF: “Really really cool, real special. Obviously, I grew up watching those guys and those guys being former Rams quarterbacks, and now me stepping into that role, it’s really cool to get a chance to meet them and hopefully get a chance to pick their brain a little bit later.”
(On managing the potential distractions of being in Los Angeles)
GOFF: “I think it goes back to what Coach Fisher was just saying. My main focus is going to be winning games and playing well on the field. All that stuff is great, like you said for attendance and hype. At the same time, I’m going to be really focused on being the best player I can be, the best teammate I can be, the best leader I can be, and let all that all that stuff take care of itself.”
(On what Fisher sees in Goff that reminds him of what he saw in Steve McNair)
FISHER: “As I have mentioned through the process that each and every candidate or quarterback, if you will, is different. They have different skill sets and things like that. So you have to be very careful to compare, but we did go ahead and take Steve off the draft board as the first quarterback in the draft. Similarities in their production on the field, the wins, the red-zone efficiency. Steve, people don’t realize this, but he did play under center his junior year in a pro-style system, and then got in the shotgun his senior year. We were very patient. We were very patient with him and he was asked numerous times, ‘When are you going to play?’ and it’s the same thing that Jared said, ‘When the coaches say I’m ready for it.’ I think we handled it well. We’re not going to follow that same model because he’s got a different skill set than Steve does.”
(On what it means to be a part of this historic moment in franchise history)
SNEAD: “Well in our business, like you’ve mentioned, and it has been said a lot, the quarterback position is very important. Long-term stability there definitely helps us achieve our goal of consistently contending. On this side I can see the history of it, you’re moving up. I think on our side, the football side, it really boils down to…a lot of times you try to identify guys like Jared who can help you but the hardest thing of the equation is actually being able to go get him. So I think for us in the building in football, that’s what we remember. A lot of times we say ‘Aw, we’d love to get that guy,’ but you just can’t. Somebody else wants them and you can’t go up and get them. It just happened that in 2016 that Jared made himself eligible for the draft and I’m sure (Cal Head Coach Sonny) Coach Dykes wished that you didn’t. He did a nice job developing and guess what? The Tennessee Titans were picking No. 1 and they drafted a quarterback last year. Like you said, we had identified Jared as a guy we wanted and once we did that, we were going to go try our best to get him and you know what? It worked out. Even if it took eight minutes into the ten, it worked out. (Laughs)”
(On if ay part of him is nervous considering all of the hype of the trade)
GOFF: “I think I am just more excited and ready for the challenge. Like I said, I know being the (No.) 1 pick brings a lot of responsibility. It’s something I’m ready for and very excited for, and ready to really just get back to football, get back to playing. I haven’t played football, I feel like, for forever, this whole long interview process for four months or so. I really just want to get back to playing and just being a teammate and being with the guys again.”
(On how he would quantify a successful rookie season)
GOFF: “I don’t know. I think that’s going to be something where I go in and I’m going to work hard like I’ve said and see what happens. Again, it’s not my decision, it’s up to the coaches and I don’t know if there is an exact win number, whatever it may be. I want to go in and prove myself and gain the respect of the guys, prove myself to Les, Coach Fisher, and (Rams owner/chairman) Mr. (Stan) Kroenke that they made the right decision.”
How quickly will the Rams lean on their No. 1-drafted QB?
http://www.dailynews.com/sports/20160427/how-quickly-will-the-rams-lean-on-their-no-1-drafted-qb
When Jared Goff and Carson Wentz finished their respective visits with the Rams a week ago, head coach Jeff Fisher gave them both a simple message.
“Get used to handing the ball to 30.”
That, of course, being star tailback Todd Gurley, the reigning NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year who is expected to become one of the most recognizable faces in Los Angeles sports. The Rams might have moved heaven and earth for the No. 1 overall draft pick, but that doesn’t mean they need him to be Atlas when he steps into their facility.
During a pre-draft press conference at L.A. Live earlier this week, Fisher and general manager Les Snead did their best to tamp down expectations for the player they pick on Thursday — widely expected to be Goff, who put up eye-popping numbers in three years at Cal.
• READ: Jeff Fisher, Les Snead tie their future in L.A. to No. 1 pick
Asked if it’s become the standard expectation for first-round quarterbacks to start as rookies, Fisher demurred.
“It’s a case-by-case basis,” he said. “It really depends on the quarterback himself. A lot of quarterbacks have been successful and haven’t started their first year, won Super Bowls.”
Snead concurred, stressing that the proliferation of diverse schemes in college football has made it necessary for NFL teams to become more patient.
“That’s a credit to college football’s innovation,” the GM said, perhaps alluding to the “Air Raid” offense that Goff ran for the Golden Bears. “With all positions, whether it’s a linebacker trying to stop a more spread-style offense, or an offensive lineman, you’re going to be a little more patient with a college player these days.
“They can still play the NFL game, but rewiring their central nervous system to learn your game may take a little longer.”
But this is not an argument borne out by recent history. The last four quarterbacks who were drafted No. 1 overall each started 16 games as rookies: Sam Bradford, for the Rams in 2010; Cam Newton, for the Panthers in 2011; Andrew Luck for the Colts in 2012; and Jameis Winston, for the Buccaneers in 2015.
Of the 13 quarterbacks who were drafted first overall in the last two decades, only four started fewer than 10 games.
Goff (or Wentz) also wouldn’t step into Los Angeles as an ordinary first round pick. No, he would be regarded as a franchise cornerstone, one whose talents were worth the Rams having mortgaged their future in the form of six picks — all in the top three rounds of the 2016 and 2017 drafts.
• Bonsignore: Jared Goff, Carson Wentz linked by fate, bonded by friendship
That’s not a price a club would usually pay to give someone the Carson Palmer treatment. Drafted first overall out of USC in 2003, Palmer rode the bench for his entire rookie season, watching as Jon Kitna led the Bengals to an 8-8 record.
The Rams, however, are not playing for .500. They were already capable of that before, winning seven games in three of the last four seasons while cycling through the likes of Kellen Clemens, Austin Davis, and Case Keenum. Perhaps the team believes that Keenum, who signed his first-round tender earlier this month, can still help ease the soon-to-be rookie’s transition.
And perhaps Fisher and Snead are simply doing their part to ease the burden.
“He’s going to play when we think he’s ready to play,” Fisher said. “It may be the opener. It may not.”
http://www.marinij.com/sports/20160425/will-rams-choose-goff-or-wentz
Will Rams choose Goff or Wentz?
By Jon Wilner, Bay Area News GroupPosted: 04/25/16, 6:38 PM PDT | Updated: 5 hrs ago
The quarterback debate at the top of the NFL draft — should the L.A. Rams select Marin Catholic High grad Jared Goff or Carson Wentz? — is the latest iteration of a process that has played out many times over the decades, from Peyton Manning vs. Ryan Leaf and Aaron Rodgers vs. Alex Smith to Andrew Luck vs. Robert Griffin III and Jameis Winston vs. Marcus Mariota.
The public discourse usually focuses on the tangibles, on arm strength and size and mobility and completion percentage and touchdowns.
But at the highest level — the Goff and Wentz level — physical attributes are less important than a quality that cannot easily be measured, according to two of the most successful evaluators of quarterbacks in NFL history.
For Bill Polian, the former Colts executive who picked Manning over Leaf, and Ron Wolf, the ex-Green Bay boss who saw potential stardom in a little-known Atlanta Falcons backup named Brett Favre, the evaluation is ultimately about mental strength, not arm strength.
“The most important thing is the will to win,” Wolf said. “After that, the other attributes fall into place … What’s inside of a guy? Some have ‘it.’ A lot of guys don’t have ‘it.’”
The trick, of course, is identifying “it,” for the evaluation process is fraught with deception and dead ends.
For every Manning, there’s a Leaf.
For every Luck, there’s a Griffin.
For every John Elway, there’s a JaMarcus Russell.
“It’s more art than science, which is why experience helps,” Polian said. “A lot of it is detective work.”
Just as there are busts-in-waiting at the top of the draft — Tim Couch was a No. 1 pick — so are there diamonds in the later rounds: Joe Montana went in the third, Tom Brady in the sixth, Johnny Unitas in the ninth.
Last season, six quarterbacks had a passer rating of 100 or more. Only one, Arizona’s Carson Palmer, was a first-round pick.
“There are so many different things involved in it, and quarterbacks come in all different shapes and sizes,” 49ers coach Chip Kelly said. “There’s somewhat of a prototype, but then if you follow that the whole time, you don’t take a Russell Wilson.”
Polian, a six-time NFL Executive of the Year, pinpointed three criteria that guided his quarterback evaluation process:
Courage in the pocket.
The willingness to remain patient under intense pressure and deliver the ball accurately into a narrow window.
Nimble feet are a bonus, but Cam Newton-esque mobility is hardly essential.
“Tom Brady isn’t a threat to run,” Wolf added, “but he has the wherewithal to step around in the pocket and make things happen. Same with Manning.”
Processing speed.
Quarterbacks, like fighter pilots, must analyze large amounts of information against an ever-shifting landscape, then act quickly — and efficiently — on the recalled information.
The area of the brain responsible for the process, the central executive, cannot be measured by the Wonderlic Cognitive Ability Test given to prospects at the NFL scouting combine.
“The Wonderlic is a benchmark, nothing more,” Polian said.
While evaluating Manning prior to the 1998 draft, Polian and the Colts ordered up a series of intelligence tests and psychological evaluations. They talked to Manning’s coaches and his professors, all in an attempt to understand how his mind worked.
The entirety of the feedback — “It was all marvelous,” Polian said — made Manning the clear choice over Leaf.
Competitive greatness.
For Wolf, this is the “it” factor.
For Polian, it’s “the ability to will a team to success when the odds say no.”
“It’s unmeasurable,” he added, “except with the naked eye.”
But you have to know where to look.
“The people who tell you are the (college) coaches,” Wolf said. “Are they keeping the ball in the quarterback’s hands when the chips are down, or taking it out of his hands?”
Polian recalled scouting Luck during his final year at Stanford — the year Manning was hurt and the Colts tumbled into the No. 1 pick.
He noted that Luck was at less than his best against Cal, at least for three-and-a-half quarters. But with the game on the line, Luck directed a 14-play drive that resulted in the game-clinching field goal.
“When he had to get it done, he did,” Polian said.
“I’ll never forget what one of our assistant coaches said to me during that season. He said, ‘For 13 years, we’ve gotten on the bus knowing that we had a better than even chance to win. But now (because of Manning’s injury), we don’t have that.”
“Isn’t that the best description of what an exceptional quarterback does for an organization.”
Which quarterback in the 2016 draft — maybe it’s Goff or Wentz; maybe it’s Paxton Lynch from Memphis — is the most likely to fill that role?
Chances are, it’s the one who best performs the tasks not easily seen.
“You can’t sustain greatness without intangibles,” said Jon Gruden, the Monday Night Football analyst and former Raiders coach.
“How do they throw into tight windows? How do they throw under duress? How do they rally their team? How do they perform in critical moments? That’s why you have to spend a lot of time studying.”
Agamemnon
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